Hey, guys! I don't remember what I've gotten as reviews for this chapter, so I'm just going to say thank you to all who did leave me something, and here's the next chapter.

I change some things from the play, but hey, that's what fanfics are all about. I'm not gonna deviate too much, but I wanna let myself be creative with this.

After nearly an hour of searching, Elphaba fell to her knees on the forest floor. She could hear the raindrops above and knew it was starting to pour. She should get inside, what with her allergy to water.

This day, however, she truly did not care. If she died right here on the forest floor, it would be a fitting end for hurting Glinda the way she had.

Elphaba stared up at the leaves and sky, welcoming the rain.

A pair of strong arms grabbed Elphaba and dragged her back inside the stone walls of the castle, despite her struggle.

"No! Just leave me alone! Let the rain fall on me! Let me go!" she cried, scratching at her captor with her fingernails. Finally, she was sprawled unceremoniously onto the floor. Fiyero stood above her, rubbing his shoulder.

"Those're some nails you've got," he said with a wry grin.

"Fiyero . . . Why?" was all she could get out.

He knelt down beside her, guiding her chin up so that her eyes met his. "Elphaba, love, you're not going to solve anything by standing out in the rain. I heard back at Shiz that you're allergic to water."

"After what Glinda saw, I deserve to die by water," she murmured.

Fiyero dropped his hand and pushed himself to his feet. "You are unbelievable."

"What?"

He walked towards the door. "I thought you were stronger than that, Elphaba. I never thought you, of all people, would give up because someone got mad at you. And it's just selfish that you think you should die because of what Glinda saw. I'm leaving."

"But Fiyero--"

"I need to think," he interrupted. "And don't you dare try to follow me. I'm not going to have your death on my head. I've got enough on my mind as it is."

And with that, he was gone.

Elphaba curled her feet up under her and wept, her salty tears only lightly stinging as they fell down her cheeks. She'd lost everything. Glinda would probably hate her for the rest of their lives, her dreams of how great the Wizard was were completely gone, Fiyero, someone she hadn't even know was on her side had just left her . . .

"Dr. Dillamond . . ." she murmured. "No . . . Was she telling me the truth? Is he truly reverted back to just a goat? He-he can't be . . ."

Much later, her weeping ceased and she stood on shaky legs. She needed help. And there was only one person with enough power to do anything for her. If only he would agree . . .

She went back up to the room where Glinda had dropped her broom. Picking it up, she got on and headed for Munchkinland, where her father reigned as governor. He would help her. Somehow. He just had to.

He had to . . .

Nessa sat in her wheelchair in front of her full-length mirror. She looked down at her reflection's silver slippers her father had given her on her first day of Shiz. They still looked like new.

"But of course," she muttered. "It's not as if they've seen any use. What with me being in this chair my entire life. And my worthless sister not even using any of her power to help me!"

Someone knocked on Nessa's bedroom door. She quickly fixed her skirts over her shoes. "Come in."

Boq entered, his melancholy eyes unnoticed by Nessa who saw him in the mirror's reflection. "Boq! Hello, come in. How are you?"

"Fine, Governess. And you?" he replied mechanically.

'Horrible,' she thought. 'Why won't you look at me?' "I'm well. I'm ready for the practice coronation. I'm not the official governess yet, you know."

"You've just assumed the duties since your father died," Boq continued. He'd heard those words numerous times, yet he still couldn't get used to them. Frex Thropp had run Munchkinland strictly, but fairly. He wanted an orderly section of Oz, representative of his religious influence as well as his good judgment. Boq hadn't always liked it, but he was generally happy. Now that Nessa had taken over, on the other hand, happiness was a fleeting feeling at best. She had stripped them of their rights and made Boq not much more than a slave.

He longed to run away from Munchkinland, from Nessa, from Oz itself. He began to wonder if he beloved Glinda and her green-skinned friend had the right idea in defying the Wizard, as well as gravity itself. After all, why would such a wonderful Wizard allow this kind of treatment of it's citizens?

"Boq, would you wheel me to the window?" she asked, trying to put love in her voice. It was so hard to be patient with him these days. He never looked happy anymore and she wanted him to be. She wanted him to know the kind of love that was within her heart, and for him to feel it, too.

He moved as stiffly as always and wheeled her to the window. Nessa gasped. "What is that?" She pointed to the sky.

Boq glanced at the sky, not expecting to see anything. He figured it was a ruse of Nessa's to arouse his interest. It wasn't. There was a black dot in the distance, slowly coming closer. The dot gained form, and soon they both saw the green face and features. Boq began backing up nervously, mumbling under his breath in frightened tones. Finally, he turned and ran from the room.

Nessa twisted her head when the door slammed. "Boq! Boq, come back!"

"Boq?" Elphaba said, hovering next to the window. "He's here?"

"Of course he's here. He lives in the palace," her sister answered coldly.

"That's odd. Father never allowed that before."

"Father is dead, Elphaba. He died shortly after you ran off to that crumbling mess you call a home!"

"He's . . . dead? But -- no! I need his help," she said desperately.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you ran off with that pink ditz and ruined his reputation."

"Don't you dare insult Glinda!" was her first retort. Then, "Ruin his reputation? His? How can you even talk about his when I was the one who went off, lost all my friends, haven't seen you in months--"

"Oh, like that's mattered to you at all!" Nessa cried. "You haven't cared about a single thing besides defaming the wizard! You couldn't even stick around long enough to give me the ability to walk!"

"To walk . . ? But Nessa, I don't know if I can do that--"

"Oh, save it! I know you gave those monkeys wings! If you could do that, you could help me walk."

Elphaba sighed. "All right. Give me a bit of time. I didn't bring the Grimmerie with me. Let me fly back and get it. Then I'll see what I can find, all right?"

Nessa crossed her arms over her chest. "Knowing my luck, you won't come back."

"Nessa! You're my sister. Of course I will."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"You'll see it in less than an hour."

Elphaba flew off in a state of despair she had never known before. Everything was going wrong. Well, the least she could do was grab the Grimmerie and see if there was such a spell to give Nessa the ability to walk. Elphaba had never realized before how much Nessa must truly hate being in that wheelchair.

"I'll fix that if I can . . ." she murmured into the wind.

She got the Grimmerie from it's hiding place in the castle and headed back to Nessa, swooping in through the same window she'd hovered outside of.

"All right. I told you I'd be back. Now, wheel yourself over to the center of the room and I'll see what I can do," Elphaba said.

Nessa grasped the wheels and made a weak attempt at turning the chair. She tried for what seemed an eternity, Elphaba seeing the strain in her face. Finally, the chair was facing her. She couldn't believe Nessa had grown so weak. Finally, Elphaba couldn't stand it and moved behind Nessa to wheel her to the middle of the room.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, Nessa. So be prepared to handle it if it doesn't."

"It better work, Elphaba," she said. "I can't be stuck in this chair forever. I won't be."

Sighing, Elphaba stayed silent, paging through the enormous book. Finally, one page seemed to stick out, so she tried reading the words off of it. It was slow going, she wanted to make sure the pronunciation was correct. The spells were irreversible, so she didn't want Nessa to wind up in a worse position than she already was.

Finally, she got the words of the spell out and Nessa's silver slippers started glowing ruby red. Nessa gasped. "They're getting hot!"

"The spell's working!" Elphaba cried, setting the book down on the vanity and approaching Nessa. Or at least, she hoped the spell was working.

When Nessa's slippers had stopped glowing and heating up, both women looked at them. "They're even more beautiful than before," Nessa breathed.

"Can you walk?" Elphaba asked.

"I--I'm afraid to try."

"Nessa!"

"All right, all right . . ." Slowly, Nessa braced her hands on the arms of the chair. But she was too weak to support her body's weight only on her arms. She looked at Elphaba sadly.

"Take my hands," Elphaba offered. Gripping Nessa's arms, she pulled her sister to her feet. Nessa got her balance, shakily, and requested Elphaba let go of her.

But when Elphaba did, Nessa fell to the floor. "Nessa!" Elphaba knelt down and tried to take her hands.

"No! Just . . . Leave me alone. Get out of here! You couldn't even do this for me! All you care about is yourself. You don't care about doing anything good!"

Elphaba blanched at that. Never had her sister accused her of being selfish. Stuck up, too smart for her own good, too much of a loner, fine. But selfish? That was going too far.

"I spent my life looking after you!" Elphaba retorted. She stood and turned towards the window, her cape swirling out at her feet. "I put my dreams on hold because Father insisted I care for you! I had to put my education on hold because you had to graduate. I couldn't go to the college of my choice because you wanted to go to Shiz! I could never be myself, live my own life, because Father made sure that I spent every waking moment making sure his favorite child had everything she desired, even at the expense of anything I wanted!"

"Oh, save it! You claim to have all this power, you claim to be so good, yet what does your power get you, Elphaba? What good have you done?" Nessa screeched at her from the floor. "You've done nothing! You are nothing! This one thing I ask of you, and you can't do it!"

"One thing!" Elphaba yelled. "One thing? Try everything! 'Elphaba, can you get me this?' 'Elphaba, can you reach that?' 'Elphaba, I dropped this under the bed.' You needed me for everything, and you knew if I didn't do it, that Father would love to punish me!"

Nessa tried to brace herself on one hand while she pushed back a lock of her hair, but she tumbled to the floor again. She put her head on her hands and finally just murmured, "Get out. I never want to see you again."

"Fine with me," Elphaba muttered. She grabbed her broom and left without another word.

Nessa looked up when she heard the window slam shut. "Now what do I do?" she moaned. She tried to pull herself over to her vanity, but gave up after only a few minutes. She was stuck, but when she felt tears pricking her eyelids, she blinked them back. A governess did not cry. Nessa wouldn't allow herself to.

"I have no choice. I have to wait here until Boq, or one of the others comes in."

She let her head drop onto her arms and pulled her legs closer to her body.